(peaceful music) (singing in foreign language) - [Narrator] After the war ended, the incarceration camps were quickly closed down.

The Japanese Americans were free to go.

But to where?

- [Alice] 'Cause there was nothing to go back to.

They lost everything.

- [Narrator] Most Japanese Americans had to start completely over.

They had lost everything.

Their farms, stores, businesses and hotels were gone.

Many had lost all their money.

- [Doug] Many of them were real successful business people who essentially lost everything they had.

- [Narrator] To make matters worse, it was unsafe to return home.

Hostility towards the Japanese Americans were at an all-time high.

- [Doug] People's houses were painted over and there were signs that said, you know, no Japs in my neighborhood, or go home Japs.

- [Kara] And when you came back every sign in our small town of Wapato was no Japs wanted.

- My family was unsure of what to do after the war, and we were able to stay in the internment camp until, I think the last people had to leave in October, and so were one of the last people to leave, because I don't think they knew what to do.

- [Narrator] Some Japanese Americans decided to move to Spokane in eastern Washington.

- Spokane was probably the safest haven they could think of moving to.

But there was still bigotry.

There's still racism.

There was still a backlash from the end of the war.

- We were discriminated quite a bit, you know.

Jobs weren't easy to get, even restaurants boycotted us.

There was a barber shop, too, said, no Japs allowed.

- It was very obvious of course, even when they returned from camp, that no matter where you went there was still discrimination and bias.

- There were, oh, about five Chinese restaurants, you know, and they would put up signs, we are Americans, no Japs allowed, you know.

And we used to eat there all the time to get noodles, but after the war, they wouldn't allow us in there.

(melancholy music) - [Narrator] The Japanese Americans were treated as second class citizens.

Good jobs were practically impossible to find.

- This is a man who had a university education.

He could not get a job for years.

He worked with my uncle in their laundry.

You know, and this is a man who's, you know, incredibly educated and he was just bitter that he could not get a job.

- I wanted to become a nurse and I couldn't get into any of the schools because of my Japanese heritage.

That's when I really felt discriminated, being Japanese was really a disadvantage.

- [Narrator] Housing was also limited for the Japanese Americans.

- Real estate companies, more or less, had a color line.

You can only buy houses up a certain street.

- [Narrator] Despite their freedom from the camps, Japanese Americans were still restricted and discriminated against for decades after the war had ended.

Even as late as the 1960s, civil rights activist Denny Yasuhara complained to the Washington State legislature that there were still over 500 federal, state and local laws aimed directly at the Japanese Americans.

It was not until the Reagan administration in the 1980s that reparations were made to the Japanese Americans for their treatment during World War Two.

But by then, most of the older Japanese Americans had passed away.

(melancholy music) (peaceful music)